How are you doing guys? Been following this forum for years but this is my first post here.
Recently, I've been trying to record guitars for my band's new studio album, and something is buggin' me. Thankfully, I'm not talking about technicals things such as mic placement or reamping: I'm talking about how many rhythm guitar layers should I record and if I should use my pedal effects on every take or not.
We are a two piece band: drums and guitars. To achieve a big guitar sound in the absence of a bass guitar, I use a Radial BigShot ABY switcher, and I run the guitar signal through a guitar amp (Orange Dual Terror + Marshall 1960 B cabinet) and a bass amp (Hartke HA3500 + Hartke 410XL cabinet).
In addition, this album has a lot of "blackgaze" inspired stuff. You know, lots of distorted guitar paired with analog delay and reverb: like Neil Halstead meets Ihsahn. We are looking up to bands such as Deafheaven, Oathbreaker, Alcest and Lantlôs. Everything really works live, but in studio we are wondering how to make this sound good and tight.
On our last album, the guy who recorded us made me play two guitar takes without using effects, recording both amps at the same time. The only effects used were distortion (we did not record clean guitars and distorted guitars separatedly). One take was panned left 100%, the other one right 100%. Then we made another take mic'ing just the guitar amp and using effects, panned center. After that, we recorded the leads and solos, but that is not really an issue: the problem here are the rhythm guitars and the effects!
The thing is, we are trying to get everything to sound as good as possible. We are not going for something really pristine and crystal clear, but we also do not want to sound muddy and brightless. What do you suggest?
I know almost every effect can be added in the mixing stage with a DAW, but we have some complications. Firstly, the analog delay or the wah (for example) really affect the way I play those parts in terms of feeling/response. Secondly, we communicate with the guy who is doing the mixing/mastering via e-mail, using a language that we are not very fluent with (English). Because of this, it is really hard for us to tell him where and how to apply the effects.
What do you think? Should I record just two takes (100% left, 100% right) with effects? Also, you think it's better to record distorted guitars and clean guitars in different takes? I know this questions may sound obvious and dull to most of you, but I'm just getting started in the world of music production. I'm trying not to be just a passive musician: I want to learn and get involved in the technical stuff to understand better the recording process.
Thank you all, and excuse my poor English!
Recently, I've been trying to record guitars for my band's new studio album, and something is buggin' me. Thankfully, I'm not talking about technicals things such as mic placement or reamping: I'm talking about how many rhythm guitar layers should I record and if I should use my pedal effects on every take or not.
We are a two piece band: drums and guitars. To achieve a big guitar sound in the absence of a bass guitar, I use a Radial BigShot ABY switcher, and I run the guitar signal through a guitar amp (Orange Dual Terror + Marshall 1960 B cabinet) and a bass amp (Hartke HA3500 + Hartke 410XL cabinet).
In addition, this album has a lot of "blackgaze" inspired stuff. You know, lots of distorted guitar paired with analog delay and reverb: like Neil Halstead meets Ihsahn. We are looking up to bands such as Deafheaven, Oathbreaker, Alcest and Lantlôs. Everything really works live, but in studio we are wondering how to make this sound good and tight.
On our last album, the guy who recorded us made me play two guitar takes without using effects, recording both amps at the same time. The only effects used were distortion (we did not record clean guitars and distorted guitars separatedly). One take was panned left 100%, the other one right 100%. Then we made another take mic'ing just the guitar amp and using effects, panned center. After that, we recorded the leads and solos, but that is not really an issue: the problem here are the rhythm guitars and the effects!
The thing is, we are trying to get everything to sound as good as possible. We are not going for something really pristine and crystal clear, but we also do not want to sound muddy and brightless. What do you suggest?
I know almost every effect can be added in the mixing stage with a DAW, but we have some complications. Firstly, the analog delay or the wah (for example) really affect the way I play those parts in terms of feeling/response. Secondly, we communicate with the guy who is doing the mixing/mastering via e-mail, using a language that we are not very fluent with (English). Because of this, it is really hard for us to tell him where and how to apply the effects.
What do you think? Should I record just two takes (100% left, 100% right) with effects? Also, you think it's better to record distorted guitars and clean guitars in different takes? I know this questions may sound obvious and dull to most of you, but I'm just getting started in the world of music production. I'm trying not to be just a passive musician: I want to learn and get involved in the technical stuff to understand better the recording process.
Thank you all, and excuse my poor English!